Bottle-stopper.



E. s. CHURCH. BOTTLE STOPPER. APPLICATION FILED APR. 27, 1909.

972,508. Patented Oct. 11,1910.

ATTORNEYS.

pin s t s 'r FFTG EDMUND S. CHURCH, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR T HAYNER DISTILLING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

BOTTLE-STOPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 27, 1909.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

Serial No. 492,444.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDMUND S. CHURCH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Stoppers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in bottle stoppers wherein certain locking means are provided to prevent the stopper from being withdrawn from the bottle unless the locking means occupy a certain predetermined position, and it is among the objects of the present invention to provide a simple form of such locking means whereby the device may be readily adjustable by hand in such manner'as to lock the bottle or set the combination for unlocking.

With these and incidental objects in View, the invention consists in certain novel combinations of parts, a preferred form of embodiment of which is shown in the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification.

Of said drawings, Figure 1 represents a sectional View showing the top part of the neck of the bottle with a crosssection through the locking stopper; Fig. 2 represents a top plan view of the stopper; Fig. 3 represents a cross-section on the line 33 of Fig. 4; and Fig. 4 represents a detail sectional View showing one of the setting elements for controlling the stopper.

In general it may be stated that the stopper comprises a locking device in the shape of a locking dog, which projects through an aperture in the stopper and engages a locking groove or recess in the bottle; and this locking dog is controlled as to its locking position by means of a series of manipulative setting elements such as hand levers. These levers may be set to difierent positions and when they all occupy the proper position, known to the authorized operator, the parts are then in such position as to permit the locking dog to be retracted out of locking position and thus permit the stopper to be withdrawn.

In Fig. 1, the bottle 10 is shown formed with a horizontal groove or recess 11 on the inside wall of the neck. The stopper comprises a resilient cork 12, upon which is seated a shell 13 shaped substantially in accordance with the upper portion of the neck of the bottle. The upper portion of the shell 13 is extended horizontally and then bent over as at 14, to inclose a top plate 15. This plate is formed with three slots 16, 17 and 18, as shown in Fig. 2. Through these slots there project upward the setting elements to be presently described, by means of which setting elements the combination locking device is controlled.

It will be seen from Fig. 1 that the resilient cork 12 fits down into the neck of the bottle below the groove 11, so that the liquid in the bottle cannot get into the groove 11, and thus into the locking mechanism. The

shell 13 is held connected to the cork 12 by means of a connecting bolt 20, upon the lower end of which is screwed anut 21,which tightly clamps the base of the shell to the cork, the upper port-ion of the bolt 20 carrying an enlarged plate 21 which is seated on the base of the shell, as shown in Fig. 1. From this plate 21 there extend upward standards 22, (see also Fig. 3). A cross shaft 23 extends between these standards 22 and has mounted thereon the setting elements above referred to. Two of these setting elements are in the shape of levers 30 and 31, pivoted upon the shaft 23. These levers extend through their respective slots 16 and 18, as above mentioned, and are provided at their upper ends with handles suitable to be taken hold of by the operator and the levers thus rotated upon their pivotal bearing within the limits of the slots. Each lever, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, is formed with an enlarged lower portion 32 and has formed therein a notch 33 so that by oscillating the lever on its pivot the notch 33 may be raised or lowered. These notches cooperate with the locking dog in the manner now to be described. This locking dog 40 is pivoted to a suitable bracket 41 depending downward from the lower side of the aforesaid plate 15. It is formed with a horizontally extending bar 42, which is common to all of the said setting elements so as to cooperate with the notches therein. When all the notches are in alinement with this cross bar 42 of the locking dog 40 the dog can swing into the vertical position shown in Fig. 1, with its cross bar 42 entering said notches. The dog is provided with a foot 43 which extends through a slot 44 in the shell and is adapted to engage the said locking groove 11 formed in the neck of the bottle.

In the position shown in Fig. 1, the looking dog hangs vertically, and its foot &8 does not engage the locking groove. IrVhen, however, any setting lever is moved so that, as shown in Fig. 4, one of the notches is out of alinement with the cross bar 12, the looking dog cannot hang vertically but is displaced enough to cause its foot 4:3 to enter the locking groove 11 and thus prevent the stopper from being withdrawn.

In order to assist in forcing the locking dog out of unlocking position into locking position, the notch of one of the levers is made with inclined or camming sides, as at 50 in Fig. 4, so that when this lever is moved these camming sides will act with a camming effect on the bar L2 and force the locking dog positively into, locking position. The notches of other levers may then have straight sides, as shown in Fig. 1, whereby the dog may swing into these notches in the other levers for the unlocking position, but these levers cannot be moved until the operation of the lever 31 which has this camming notch, to force the dog out of the other notches and into locking position.

The middle setting element is herein shown as a vertically adjustable slide 60 instead of a pivotal lever. As shown in Fig. 1, this slide has an elongated slot 61 formed therein so as to permit the vertical adjustment of the slide upon the cross shaft 23. The lower portion of this slide is formed with a notch cooperating with the cross bar 42 of the locking dog 10 just as hitherto described for the setting levers.

For the setting levers 30 and 31 numbers are provided on the plate 15, so as to show the proper setting position of these levers, and for the central slide 60, the numbers may be placed on the side of the slide, as shown in Fig. 1. By this means the levers and slide, when adjusted to the proper numeral position, as shown by the readings, will then all have their respective notches in proper alinement with the cross bar 42 and thus permit the unlocking of the stopper.

Of course the notches in the setting levers and the setting slide may be varied in position on the lower portions of the levers and slide so as thereby to make up a different combination lock for different stoppers; and it is essential for the operator to know exactly what the combination number is to enable him to set the setting elements in proper numeral positions for the unlocking of the stopper.

It is to be understood that either form of setting element could be used, namely, the oscillating lever or the vertically adjust able slide or the two different forms may be combined as shown herein.

hat is claimed is as follows:

1. In a bottle stopper of the kind described, the combination with a resilient cations of said notches by the adjustments of said setting elements; and a projection carried by said locking dog and common to all of said setting elements, positioned to cooperate with said notches whereby to con trol the locking and unlocking of the stopper.

2. In a bottle stopper of the kind described, the combination with a resilient cork, and an inclosed shell attached thereto and adapted to contain locking mechanism and having an opening therein; of a locking dog formed with a projection adapted to project through the opening in said shell and engage .a locking recess in said bottle; a standard within said shell; a series of setting levers having operating handles extending through the upper casing of said shell and pivoted upon said standard, the lower portions of said levers being provided with locking notches which are raised and lowered by the pivotal movements of said levers; and a bar carried by said locking dog and extending across the lower ends of said levers in position to cooperate with said notches.

3. In a bottle stopper of the kind de scribed, the combination with a resilient cork, and an inclosed shell attached thereto and adapted to contain locking mechanism and having an opening therein; of a locking dog formed with a projection adapted to project through the opening in said shell and engage a locking recess in said bottle; a standard within said shell; a series of setting levers having operating handles extending through the upper casing of said shell and pivoted upon said standard, the lower portions of said levers being provided with looking notches which are raised and lowered by the pivotal movements of said levers; a bar carried by said locking dog and extending across the lower ends of said levers in position to cooperate with said notches; and the notch of one of said setting levers being formed with inclined sides for operating upon the bar of said locking dog to cam the dog positively into locking position.

4. In a bottle stopper of the kind described, the combination with a resilient formed with slots therein; a bolt extending through said cork and formed with a head for clamping the shell to said cork; a standard also connected with said bolt and extending up into said shell; a series of setting levers pivoted on said standard and extending through the slots in said dial plate; a locking dog hanging pivotally from the underside of the said dial plate into the interior of said shell and formed with a foot projecting through said slot in said shell to engage a locking recess in the bottle; disks formed on the lower or pivotal ends of said levers and provided with notches in the periphery thereof; and a locking bar extending horizontally across the lower end of said locking dog and cooperating with the notches of all of said levers to control the locking position of said dog.

5. In a bottle stopper of the kind described, the combination with a resilient cork, and an inclosed shell seated thereon and adapted to contain locking mechanism and having a slot formed therein; of a dial plate closing the upper end of said shell and formed with slots therein; a bolt extending through said cork and formed with a head for clamping the shell to said cork; a standard also connected with said bolt and eX- tending up into said shell; a series of setting levers pivoted on said standard and extending through the slots in said dial plate; a locking dog hanging pivotally from the underside of said dial plate into the interior of said shell and formed with a foot projecting through said slot in said shell to engage a locking recess in the bottle; disks formed on levers to control the locking position of said dog; a vertical slide also projecting through a slot in said dial plate and guided at its lower end upon said standard so as to permit vertical adjustment of said slide, with a notch formed in the lower end of said slide to cooperate with the aforesaid bar of the locking dog, and the notch of one of the setting levers also being formed with inclined sides for camming the said bar out of the notch and positively forcing the locking dog into locking position.

6. In a bottle stopper of the kind described, the combination with a resilient cork, and a casing attached thereto, of locking mechanism contained within said casing for locking the stopper to the bottle; and a series of setting levers pivoted within said casing and projecting through said casing to the outer end of the said stopper; and connections between said levers and said locking mechanism for controlling the effectiveness of the locking mechanism according to the predetermined positioning of said levers.

I11 testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDMUND S. CHURCH.

Witnesses:

B. H. NOYES, WVM. H. DALE. 

